William Thomas Cain/Getty Imagesformer Federal Judge Louis B. Freeh speaks with the media during a news conference July 12, 2012

Pepper Hamilton LLP is merging with the law firm run by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who has supervised the wind-down of bankrupt MF Global Holdings Ltd. and a probe of Penn State’s child sex abuse scandal.

Freeh will join the 122-year-old Philadelphia-based firm’s executive committee, it said today in a statement. Lawyers at Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP will become members of Pepper Hamilton’s white collar litigation and investigations group.

Freeh, 62, a former federal judge who led the Federal Bureau of Investigation under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001, serves as a bankruptcy trustee for MF Global Holdings and issued a 267-page report last month on Pennsylvania State University’s handling of the scandal surrounding ex-football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted of dozens of counts of sexual abuse.

Founded in 1890, Pepper Hamilton has more than 500 lawyers in seven states and the District of Columbia, according to the firm’s website. The merger will be effective Sept. 1.

The deal includes the acquisition of Freeh Group International Solutions LLC, a consulting firm that advises on issues of risk, compliance and security. The group will retain its name and continue to operate independently of the law firm under the leadership of James Bucknam, its president and chief executive, according to the statement.

“This transaction will allow us to do a lot more than conduct investigations and uncover problems,” Freeh said in the statement. “We will now have the depth to react quickly to sophisticated, complex issues anywhere in the world.”